bush ignores warnings again

The Kerry campaign has been willing to accuse Bush of misleading, being wrong, incompetent, etc., but I believe with all my heart (and whatever demographic instincts a non-pro can have) that Dems are missing a golden opportunity. With a day to go, the time has come to take off the gloves for REAL a la Carl Rove or Roger Ailes.

The problem is this: The GOP polls better on character/values, but we poll better on issues. So our experienced consultants (risk-averse seasoned pro's) attack Bush on issues, policies and actions. We expect these arguments to be persuasive, since we find Bush's policies and actions so incredibly awful. And they are, in fact, effective. But swing voters do not get moved by these arguments. They may agree with everything we say, but their hearts and minds are not won. Because these non-ideologues vote from a gut impression, often at odds with both their own best interests and the best interests of the country.

And their gut impression? The polls show a majority of people (hard as it is for die-hard Dems to believe) are comfortable with W., trust him, think he has strength of character and courage, and choose him over Kerry to best fight the war on terror. Bush puts on a show worthy of PT Barnum, but people have bought it. We've been dumbfounded by their ability to cloak W. in the mantle of integrity, but it has become the conventional wisdom. Accepted. Entrenched. Impossible to undo. The emperor's new clothes turned out to be Reagan's Teflon hand-me-downs. So the Kerry campaign and the 527s only attack him obliquely ("this administration is arrogant, incompetent..."), hoping an Achilles heel blow will make the Bush campaign limp a bit. They seem to have confused Teflon with kevlar.

While it is true that the GOP skill at talking points dissemination has contributed to the Bush mythology, it has been aided immeasurably by the Dem's (and the media's) unwillingness to be disrespectful of a sitting president - especially this president post 9/11. This is the real source of Bush's apparent non-stick coating. The Kerry campaign and mainstream Dems have been fighting hard, with scathing criticisms of policies, positions, and actions. But unwilling to disrespect the Office of the President, they have not disrespected the President. They have not attacked the mythology of W. They have not gone after Bush, the man.

The GOP has no similar restraints. The Bush campaign has been skewering Kerry, the man. Rove, et al have had no second thoughts about distorting, misquoting or lying to malign Kerry and this has been a major tactical disadvantage to us. A big part of it is Kerry's own fault ("I voted for it before I voted against", "global test"...), but the astounding thing is that they have hurt Kerry immensely by selling a false picture, while Bush’s undoing requires only selling the truth!

The majority of Americans believe G. W. Bush is an honest man of the people with the leadership skills and courage to fight the best war on terrorism. The Kerry campaign counters with ads and stump quotes showing the administration's bad policies, mistakes and the resultant cost in lives, dollars, jobs, etc. But the public still believes Bush is a good man. This will not do.

Wake up Kerry campaign, Bush's honeymoon is over. "The Daily Show" has shown that Bush can be not only disrespected, but ridiculed nightly. And, frankly, the public can smell disingenuousness a mile away. We really have no respect for this President, but if we are afraid to speak bluntly, they perceive that we are hiding something and they fill in the blanks, not us. To earn the public trust, we must speak out truthfully. The public does not want shrill anger. The public does not want righteous indignation. But now that the day is upon us, I believe they could accept an honest, calm, GENUINE outrage over the blatant lies and smears. And once that dammed up emotion is unleashed, we can launch a measured, carefully conceived refutation of conventional wisdom.

Carl Rove believes in attacking an opponent's perceived strengths head on. Instinctively, anyone can see this must be done. Bush's political strength is not in issues. The day before election day forget about issues! Bush's political strengths are perceptions of his character and in prosecuting the war on terror.

As for character, we could (but we won't) bemoan the following:

Although Bush has lied demonstrably (actually saying exactly opposite things, no out-of-context cuts required) and repeatedly on videotape, with montages juxtaposed frequently on "The Daily Show", he still remains perceived as honest.

Although Bush is completely a product of affluence and privilege (whose father famously did not know what a bar code reader was) and stages photo opp’s at a fake ranch bought for a campaign (and he even has a fake accent not shared by any of his siblings), he still remains perceived as of the people.

Although every company he ran tanked big time, and he's led a dreadful war, he still remains perceived as a good leader.

Although he avoided combat in Viet Nam, and he was afraid to face the 9-11 commission alone, and he froze completely during the first moments of 9/11, he still remains perceived as courageous.

But here is the key to the kingdom:

Bush was warned about the explosives that needed to be safeguarded from looting. He ignored the warning. The result we know. This is just too familiar. Just like Bush was warned about "Bin Laden determined to attack on US soil" most likely with airliners. Despite people like Tenet running around with their "hair on fire", he ignored the warning. The result we know.

How dare Bush say that we cannot afford to go back to a September 10th mentality, where we wait and only react when attacked? That is exactly what HE did! Clinton actually disrupted multiple hi-profile attack plots: millennium, Israeli embassy, etc., all without the Patriot Act. What major plots has Bush disrupted? He did not stop 9/11!

This is the time to be indignant. This is the time to be offended. 9-11 happened on his watch! We've been respectfully circumspect long enough. We would usually never lay any blame on any American when so clearly it was Bin Laden and Al Qaeda who did it, but Bush's bluster and blame have gotten to the point where it must be said: "When you were warned by Sandy Berger so clearly. When the CIA confirmed it in August. When you ignored every warning like you continue to do in Iraq. How can you possibly attack John Kerry. 9/11 did not happen on his watch. It happened on yours! And you dare say you can't think of any mistakes you've made? Well we sure can."

Randy